[governance] Pakistan: BlackBerry cellphone banned for official use: government decision

[Shahzad Ahmad]

This is in the context of recent Wikileaks, which left various ruling
coalition partners red faced. Wikileaks severely hurt several so called
religious-cum-clerics-cum-political leaders in the government for their
corruption. Not that people didn’t know about them earlier but still it hurt
because media continues to take up different aspects of it on daily basis.  

Best wishes
Shahzad
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BlackBerry cellphone banned for official use: government decision 
MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN 
http://www.brecorder.com/news/telecommunication/pakistan/1133922:blackberry-
cellphone-banned-for-official-use-government-decision.html  

ISLAMABAD  (December 14, 2010) : The government has decided to ban official
use of BlackBerry cellphones to plug leakage of sensitive information to
hostile parties, well-informed sources in Interior Ministry told Business
Recorder.

Authentic reports suggest that the Indian government is attempting to
acquire the capability of intercepting transmissions in the hope of
extracting sensitive information. Pakistan Armed Forces ie Army, Air Force
and Pakistan Navy have already banned the use of Blackberry for official
business. "Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB),
Ministry of Information Technology and Ministry of Law, Justice and
Parliamentary Affairs are backing this proposal," sources added.

This ban must be viewed in the context of WikiLeaks revelations that shook
the world including Pakistan through the release of thousands of secret
cables sent by US embassies to the State Department. The sources said it has
been observed that some federal and provincial departments' functionaries
are using BlackBerry cell phones for communication of official voice/data.

There are following two fundamental problems in the use of BlackBerry: (i)
Its encryption/decryption keys are controlled by a foreign-based company.
Therefore, a subscriber using BlackBerry is outside our communication
security regime and; (ii) the moment a BlackBerry is switched on, it is
automatically connected to the Internet. Voice/data being transmitted by the
set is thus available to interested/hostile parties based abroad and can,
therefore, be used/exploited for ulterior motives. In fact, a BlackBerry is
a security threat even if it is in an idle state.

Sources said Chinese and French governments have imposed ban on Research in
Motion (RiP). There are also reports that Saudi Arabia and United Arab
Emirates (UAE) have undertaken initiatives to place restraints on BlackBerry
services. The US and European countries have vital interests and troops in
Afghanistan. Therefore, it can be safely assumed that there can be attempts
to monitor communication traffic originating from Afghanistan and
surrounding countries. The possibility of some foreign states supporting
their security partners to facilitate access to the communications traffic
originating on BlackBerry network in the region cannot be ruled out.

Sources said the Cabinet Division has recommended that any communication
which has control outside Pakistan should not be used in view of high risk
of cyber espionage. Since BlackBerry is a brand of a foreign company whose
services are controlled from outside Pakistan its use by government
functionaries at all levels for official business poses a credible threat to
national security and needs to be banned immediately, sources quoted the
Cabinet Division as recommending to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.




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